CMLhell
Today was the CMLL press conference to announce their plans for the Anniversary Show this month. The result was a cage match involving 10 wrestlers:
Negro Casas
Rey Bucanero
Felino
Rush
Mr. Aguila (lost his hair 8 months ago)
Maximo (lost his hair 5 months ago)
Texano
Terrible
Hector Garza
Blue Panther
A bit underwhelming, eh? Gone are the days of big singles match built up over many months culminating in huge mask or hair matches. In fact... gone are the days of SINGLES MATCHES! Needless to say the reaction to this match has been negative all around except from the diehard CMLL fans who will defend their promotion until it's inevitable death (-placeholder to link to Cesar's next blog post-). Many people are asking how CMLL could possibly think this is a credible main event and why wouldn't they do a bigger match. I've explained why before but I'll do it again officially here...
Paco Alonso is stubborn and cheap. This is NOT my opinion of the man. This is me repeating what many people have said who actually have worked/work with Paco. He is very hands-off which it comes to CMLL and has little to do with the weekly decision making. He will call his bookers once in a while or even grace everyone with his presence every few months, usually around the time of a major show. This isn't because he's a busy man or because he wants his bookers to have independence. Paco doesn't focus on CMLL because Paco doesn't care about Lucha Libre and is usually not in the state of mind (drunk) to care about anything at all really.
What does all of that have to do with the cage match on September 30th? EVERYTHING!
Rewind to May 2011. Averno knows he's heading to the WWE and informs the people in charge of CMLL (who then have to inform Paco) that he wants to lose his mask immediatly and if they don't do the match he'll do it elsewhere. How do you think Paco reacts to this news? Clearly not well. Paco is a stubborn man who hates being forced to do things and to make matters worse - he now has to PAY THE MAN WHO IS BASIACLLY BLACKMAILING HIM INTO A MASK MATCH! It's a worst case scenario for Paco. But he gives the go-ahead and pays Averno for his mask.
Fast forward to late August 2011. Atlantis turns on Ultimo Guerrero, Hector Garza challenges Guerrero for his mask in newspaper stories, Volador Jr. challenges Garza for his hair in newspaper stories and Atlantis/Ultimo feud weekly while doing obligatory mask challenges. Some sources begin to speculate/report that the main event of the Anniversary will be a 4 way mask/hair match or just a straight up singles match between Atlantis vs Ultimo Guerrero. My response to this nonsense was simple: ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?
***The bank of Paco Alonso is closed for business until March 2012.***
Paco is bitter about the way he was treated in June and is not about to open his wallet and pay anyone else for their mask unless it's a dirt cheap mask. Atlantis, Volador Jr. and Ultimo Guerrero are not dirt cheap masks. So for those of you still holding your breath about CMLL re-considering and doing a mask match with any of those guys in October - it's not happening. It's also not happening in December. It may not even happen in March of next year but that would be the first date where you could seriously consider such a match. Does this mean nobody in CMLL will lose their mask until next year? Maybe not. They could still finish the Gen 11 vs CMLL veterans feud by taking the masks of the Rayos Tapatios or take the mask of an Invasor who doesn't matter like Histeria or Psicosis but those masks will cost only a fraction of what Paco would have to pay for Atlantis, Volador or Guerrero.
Now after reading all that one might ask: Does CMLL care about their fans? Unfortunately there is no simple yes or no answer to that question.
CMLL certainly doesn't want to alienate what's left of their hardcore fanbase. This is why they still do 2/3 fall matches and haven't strayed from the trios matches throughout the card formula. There are some people in the company who are starting to gain power that want to freshen things up by doing more singles matches and especially one fall matches but as of right now they aren't winning that battle. Next year may be a different story. But while they don't want to alienate their hardcore fans, at the same time CMLL really dosen't care about rewarding their fans for their support.
What most people don't understand is CMLL can't be thought of like every other wrestling promotion. CMLL doesn't care about TV ratings. CMLL doesn't care about attendance unless it drops to Arena Naucalpan levels. CMLL doesn't care about merchandise. CMLL doesn't care about storylines. CMLL doesn't care about the quality of matches. CMLL is just a business that wants to keep operating at the status quo for as long as possible. When Paco Alonso calls Panico for an update on business he is not interested in what the storylines are or what feuds are upcoming. He just wants to hear the shows are still running and there are no problems with the talent. FACT: Paco cares more about the parking lot than anything that goes on in CMLL. You can't compare CMLL to New Japan or WWE or even AAA. The goal of those companies (ideally) is to put out the best product possible in order to make money and help the business grow. Meanwhile the bottom line for CMLL is to do as little as possible and not have costs increase at all. Don't think CMLL couldn't start packing Arena Mexico every week. They could... if they wanted. But the goal of Mar, Colombo and Feliciano is simply to make sure that when Paco calls they can just tell him: "Everything is running normally, sir." That's it. Any time you see anything different (i.e.: Mistico as a rudo) rest assured it was something that CMLL didn't plan for and as soon as possible they will reset things back to normal.
The final question you may have after reading all that is: Does CMLL want to create new stars? The quick answer: Yes. But do they want to create superstars? 100% absolutely positively... NO!
CMLL is still bitter about Mistico leaving. They felt like they owned him and he owed his life to them. Whether they are right or wrong about that is up for debate elsewhere. The point is... CMLL doesn't want to be in a situation like that again. They do not want to ever have a homegrown guy leave them again like Mistico did. Obviously that is impossible. People have free will and will do whatever they need to do to make a better living or sometimes people just want a change of scenery. Either way... CMLL's way of dealing with this is just to not create any more superstars. Delta, Angel De Oro, Rush, Polvora, Diamante, Dragon Rojo... these are all average wrestlers at best who will be popular enough in Arena Mexico to headline shows and be used on posters but they will never be superstars who can carry a promotion on their own. CMLL isn't mad about that though. CMLL prefers it that way. This way their cards are completely interchangeable. Delta can work the main event or the second match on the show. Valiente can work the semi-main event or the mid-card lightning match. Dragon Rojo can do a singles match for a title at Arena Mexico on Tuesday and work the tercera in a trios match on Friday. And if Dragon Rojo decides he wants to leave for AAA? Who cares? CMLL has an entire stable of Dragon Rojo's waiting to take his place - Los Cancerberos. If Dragon Rojo quit wrestling tomorow and Euforia replaced him - would anyone notice? I highly doubt it.
Smart wrestling fans always point out the reason the WWE can't create any new stars is because everyone is treated the same and they do "50/50 booking" which means nobody ever wins a feud, wrestlers just trade wins back and forth to keep them on the same level. The difference between the WWE and CMLL is the WWE actually WANTS to create new stars, they are just unable to do it because the people in charge are idiots. Meanwhile CMLL's goal is to make sure all their guys are always on the same level so that no one wrestler is associated with CMLL and thus is viewed as bigger than the company. If it ever starts to happen with a wrestler, CMLL will put a stop to it as soon as possible. The people in charge of CMLL right now have not forgotten about Mistico and they never will. Mark my words: ***CMLL WILL NEVER CREATE ANOTHER SUPERSTAR AGAIN UNTIL NEW PEOPLE ARE IN CHARGE OF THE COMPANY.***
Even though I wrote all that I'll be the first one to fantasy book more CMLL. I'll also be the first one to bitch and complain when they announce the lineup for their next major show. Why do I do that even after writing everything I did here? Because it's fun.:) If you are a CMLL fan (like I am) you always have to hold out hope that one day things will change. And I do think one day they will change. But that day is a long time from now when the entire company is restructured. And that is under the assumption Paco Alonso doesn't just decide to close CMLL (a real possibility) instead of handing it down to someone else in his family. I complain because I care! I complain because one day I hope Alexis Salazar finally gets enough power that he will hire me to be his right hand man! Let me have my dream!
Negro Casas
Rey Bucanero
Felino
Rush
Mr. Aguila (lost his hair 8 months ago)
Maximo (lost his hair 5 months ago)
Texano
Terrible
Hector Garza
Blue Panther
A bit underwhelming, eh? Gone are the days of big singles match built up over many months culminating in huge mask or hair matches. In fact... gone are the days of SINGLES MATCHES! Needless to say the reaction to this match has been negative all around except from the diehard CMLL fans who will defend their promotion until it's inevitable death (-placeholder to link to Cesar's next blog post-). Many people are asking how CMLL could possibly think this is a credible main event and why wouldn't they do a bigger match. I've explained why before but I'll do it again officially here...
Paco Alonso is stubborn and cheap. This is NOT my opinion of the man. This is me repeating what many people have said who actually have worked/work with Paco. He is very hands-off which it comes to CMLL and has little to do with the weekly decision making. He will call his bookers once in a while or even grace everyone with his presence every few months, usually around the time of a major show. This isn't because he's a busy man or because he wants his bookers to have independence. Paco doesn't focus on CMLL because Paco doesn't care about Lucha Libre and is usually not in the state of mind (drunk) to care about anything at all really.
What does all of that have to do with the cage match on September 30th? EVERYTHING!
Rewind to May 2011. Averno knows he's heading to the WWE and informs the people in charge of CMLL (who then have to inform Paco) that he wants to lose his mask immediatly and if they don't do the match he'll do it elsewhere. How do you think Paco reacts to this news? Clearly not well. Paco is a stubborn man who hates being forced to do things and to make matters worse - he now has to PAY THE MAN WHO IS BASIACLLY BLACKMAILING HIM INTO A MASK MATCH! It's a worst case scenario for Paco. But he gives the go-ahead and pays Averno for his mask.
Fast forward to late August 2011. Atlantis turns on Ultimo Guerrero, Hector Garza challenges Guerrero for his mask in newspaper stories, Volador Jr. challenges Garza for his hair in newspaper stories and Atlantis/Ultimo feud weekly while doing obligatory mask challenges. Some sources begin to speculate/report that the main event of the Anniversary will be a 4 way mask/hair match or just a straight up singles match between Atlantis vs Ultimo Guerrero. My response to this nonsense was simple: ARE YOU OUT OF YOUR MIND?
***The bank of Paco Alonso is closed for business until March 2012.***
Paco is bitter about the way he was treated in June and is not about to open his wallet and pay anyone else for their mask unless it's a dirt cheap mask. Atlantis, Volador Jr. and Ultimo Guerrero are not dirt cheap masks. So for those of you still holding your breath about CMLL re-considering and doing a mask match with any of those guys in October - it's not happening. It's also not happening in December. It may not even happen in March of next year but that would be the first date where you could seriously consider such a match. Does this mean nobody in CMLL will lose their mask until next year? Maybe not. They could still finish the Gen 11 vs CMLL veterans feud by taking the masks of the Rayos Tapatios or take the mask of an Invasor who doesn't matter like Histeria or Psicosis but those masks will cost only a fraction of what Paco would have to pay for Atlantis, Volador or Guerrero.
Now after reading all that one might ask: Does CMLL care about their fans? Unfortunately there is no simple yes or no answer to that question.
CMLL certainly doesn't want to alienate what's left of their hardcore fanbase. This is why they still do 2/3 fall matches and haven't strayed from the trios matches throughout the card formula. There are some people in the company who are starting to gain power that want to freshen things up by doing more singles matches and especially one fall matches but as of right now they aren't winning that battle. Next year may be a different story. But while they don't want to alienate their hardcore fans, at the same time CMLL really dosen't care about rewarding their fans for their support.
What most people don't understand is CMLL can't be thought of like every other wrestling promotion. CMLL doesn't care about TV ratings. CMLL doesn't care about attendance unless it drops to Arena Naucalpan levels. CMLL doesn't care about merchandise. CMLL doesn't care about storylines. CMLL doesn't care about the quality of matches. CMLL is just a business that wants to keep operating at the status quo for as long as possible. When Paco Alonso calls Panico for an update on business he is not interested in what the storylines are or what feuds are upcoming. He just wants to hear the shows are still running and there are no problems with the talent. FACT: Paco cares more about the parking lot than anything that goes on in CMLL. You can't compare CMLL to New Japan or WWE or even AAA. The goal of those companies (ideally) is to put out the best product possible in order to make money and help the business grow. Meanwhile the bottom line for CMLL is to do as little as possible and not have costs increase at all. Don't think CMLL couldn't start packing Arena Mexico every week. They could... if they wanted. But the goal of Mar, Colombo and Feliciano is simply to make sure that when Paco calls they can just tell him: "Everything is running normally, sir." That's it. Any time you see anything different (i.e.: Mistico as a rudo) rest assured it was something that CMLL didn't plan for and as soon as possible they will reset things back to normal.
The final question you may have after reading all that is: Does CMLL want to create new stars? The quick answer: Yes. But do they want to create superstars? 100% absolutely positively... NO!
CMLL is still bitter about Mistico leaving. They felt like they owned him and he owed his life to them. Whether they are right or wrong about that is up for debate elsewhere. The point is... CMLL doesn't want to be in a situation like that again. They do not want to ever have a homegrown guy leave them again like Mistico did. Obviously that is impossible. People have free will and will do whatever they need to do to make a better living or sometimes people just want a change of scenery. Either way... CMLL's way of dealing with this is just to not create any more superstars. Delta, Angel De Oro, Rush, Polvora, Diamante, Dragon Rojo... these are all average wrestlers at best who will be popular enough in Arena Mexico to headline shows and be used on posters but they will never be superstars who can carry a promotion on their own. CMLL isn't mad about that though. CMLL prefers it that way. This way their cards are completely interchangeable. Delta can work the main event or the second match on the show. Valiente can work the semi-main event or the mid-card lightning match. Dragon Rojo can do a singles match for a title at Arena Mexico on Tuesday and work the tercera in a trios match on Friday. And if Dragon Rojo decides he wants to leave for AAA? Who cares? CMLL has an entire stable of Dragon Rojo's waiting to take his place - Los Cancerberos. If Dragon Rojo quit wrestling tomorow and Euforia replaced him - would anyone notice? I highly doubt it.
Smart wrestling fans always point out the reason the WWE can't create any new stars is because everyone is treated the same and they do "50/50 booking" which means nobody ever wins a feud, wrestlers just trade wins back and forth to keep them on the same level. The difference between the WWE and CMLL is the WWE actually WANTS to create new stars, they are just unable to do it because the people in charge are idiots. Meanwhile CMLL's goal is to make sure all their guys are always on the same level so that no one wrestler is associated with CMLL and thus is viewed as bigger than the company. If it ever starts to happen with a wrestler, CMLL will put a stop to it as soon as possible. The people in charge of CMLL right now have not forgotten about Mistico and they never will. Mark my words: ***CMLL WILL NEVER CREATE ANOTHER SUPERSTAR AGAIN UNTIL NEW PEOPLE ARE IN CHARGE OF THE COMPANY.***
Even though I wrote all that I'll be the first one to fantasy book more CMLL. I'll also be the first one to bitch and complain when they announce the lineup for their next major show. Why do I do that even after writing everything I did here? Because it's fun.:) If you are a CMLL fan (like I am) you always have to hold out hope that one day things will change. And I do think one day they will change. But that day is a long time from now when the entire company is restructured. And that is under the assumption Paco Alonso doesn't just decide to close CMLL (a real possibility) instead of handing it down to someone else in his family. I complain because I care! I complain because one day I hope Alexis Salazar finally gets enough power that he will hire me to be his right hand man! Let me have my dream!
Labels: anti-luchablog, cmll, lucha libre, opinion, thoughts that will surely get me into trouble
posted by Rob at 5:16 PM
5 Comments:
Great analysis, Mr. B! :)
What a crock of shit, just the usual Rob Bihari bile against CMLL.
A singles apuesta would have been the prefered option for all but the over the top reaction in the post is vomit inducing and just shows what a moaning prick you are.
They have done well this year to recover from the loss of Mistico and everything surrounding Averno's departure/non-departure and have been pushing new(er) talent ALL year. Yes there's been WAY too many tournaments and not enough of a focus on feuds but their clearly in a transitional period, the time to judge is next year. With Angel de Oro, Maya jr, Delta, Palacio Negro, Metal Blanco, Metro and Escorpion all progressing this year to add to who's already on the roster there's a lot to be positive about.
Arena Mexico will be full for the cage match.
If you're going to try to steal Infernas's gimmick the very least you can do is not use punctuation and misspell every third word.
Everything I said is the truth and I take nothing back. Plus I have the balls not to post under an assumed name so the comments can never be traced back to me unlike some people who are more than happy to throw out opinions left and right but won't identify themselves b/c they will eventually be begging for jobs from the people they are trashing. *ahem* Now THAT is vomit inducing. Also the part where you imply Metro and Delta are progressing and are on their way to being stars. How low has business sunk for that to be true???
Anyways, thank you for taking the time to click a link to read my thoughts and post a reply. Clearly shows my opinion matters to you.
This comment has been removed by the author.
I didn't say Metro and Delta were "on their way to being stars" i said both had made progress over the year
"Clearly shows my opinion matters to you."
No, i find your over the top moaning amusing
Post a Comment
<< Home